Chapter 7

I do not own Lion King or any of its characters.

The only characters I do own are as follows:

Kali : Fierce

Usafi: Purity

Maji: Water

Nurisha: Shine Light Upon

Hafsa: Sound Judgment

Ufisa: Mischief

The following characters belong to my friend Nala-Nay who gave me permission to use him:

Hiassen

Cire

Freezing Silver

"What's going on here?" Kali asked looking shocked at the scene before him.

"Daddy!" Said his three Cubs as they ran to him. He nuzzled each of them until he smelt the noticeable stench of fear on his son and saw he was trembling like an earthquake had just occurred under his paws.

"Maji are you ok my boy?" KALI asked terrified. "Oh Queens above, your mother will tear my mane off if she sees you."

"No papa. I'm ok." Maji said just nuzzling his leg.

"Hi Kali." Simba said looking up at him. "We were just about to wrap this up." He took a deep breath and did his best to keep his emotions in check. He wondered how his mother was able to keep her cool all those years they were away. Where was she when he needed her because now would be a great time for her to show up.

"I showed up first to save these cubs from that asshole Hiassen. Sorry I didn't stay with them while they were leaving but someone needed to delay that monster."

"You should've killed him before brother. However that isn't currently important. The matter that needs to be settled right now is that we need to punish our cubs."

"Punishment? For going to the Outlands?" Kali asked sternly looking at them.

"Not just that, Maji also needs to be punished for leading the others there." Simba said a bit disappointed.

"Simba bro. You don't know that..." Chumvi was unable to finish as he was silenced by Simba's glare.

"Your daughter told us. Of course we know for sure!" He said between his teeth trying to keep his anger under control.

"My daughter also said that Kopa was wrestling with him when they both saw the Outlands." Chumvi said sharply.

"Then obviously Kopa needs just as bad a punishment. I think a week or two in the den will do" Kali said walking forward before Simba stepped in front of him.

"Why would two weeks be necessary Kali?"

"It was no different when you went to the Elephant Graveyard. You were punished for two weeks and so will Kopa. Just like you he disobeyed the rules. It's like the saying goes 'Like father like son'."

"No need to bring up the past Kali. But you make a point and I agree that Kopa should be punished for disobeying us, for say three days while the girls get a week."

"But Dad that's not fair!" Kopa argued stomping his paws in protest to his father.

"Don't bang your paws at me young lion." Simba said trying to hide his obvious smirk at his antics.

"But what we did was no different than what you did!" The fellow pride members all tried to remain serious and resist the urge to remensis in front of their cubs.

"And like you my father was upset and punished me." He saw the pouty face start to appear on his face and chuckled. "Come on son. Three days isn't so bad. My dad's usual punishment for disobedience was that I had to stay in the den and stare at the wall every day until he came home and told me to stop for two weeks". And three days isn't as bad as Maji's three weeks of punishment"

"Three weeks? All due respect, brother, but Maji and his sisters are my Cubs and I will decide how to punish them after I hear the whole story." He said pushing past him.

"Kali, I love you and your cubs. Even Maji despite what you think but in this case I'm afraid the evidence points to him." Simba said in an as a matter of fact tone. "As your King I order you to..." But Simba was cut off by a vicious snarl from Kali as he turned around and narrowed his normally serene white eyes at Simba.

"And since I am King as well I have the same rights as you when it comes to deciding punishments. And I say Kopa and Maji gets the same punishment."

"Since I took all of the blame for the graveyard incident since it was my idea even though you also took part of the adventure the same rule should apply to them. " Simba growled

"And how would I know what authority I have since you wouldn't let me patrol the border. If you had this wouldn't have happened." Kali snarled snarled like a rattlesnake's rattler, ready to strike. His once snow like eyes that would appear when his cubs welcomed him home turned into icy daggers. "Perhaps cause you don't think I should be King! After all if you did you would ask me to to do more than just be your personal assistant when it comes to negotiations with the herds which you don't even know how to do!"

"I gave you a job that I thought you could handle. A King must know his pride's strengths and yours was negotiation." Simba said with a sigh, stating what he thought was the obvious. When did he become the stubborn one anyway?

"Ok, Ok. Not to seem like the third guy here but.." Malka instantly shut up as both brothers glared at him. As if on cue the trio ushered their own cubs away, knowing this was not going to end well. The last thing they needed was for the cubs to think this behavior was acceptable. Malka hoped the royal cubs were young enough to have no recognition of this in the future.

"Stay out of this!" They growled in unison and Malka could see why the brothers were so good a team back when they were Cubs. The two were like fire and ice. But right now ice was freezing beyond belief.

"You don't know a thing about my strengths Simba! Plus your explanation just proved that you don't see me as a King!."

"That's not what I'm saying at all. Does your brain only function when Usafi is around?"

"Leave Usafi out of this! I'm trying to do what's best for the kingdom and our family. If you actually lived with lions instead of those two bachelors you might understand the idea of putting them first."

"So says the muscle headed lion who was raised by another lion who left his family to die!" Simba argued back.

Kali's eyes went cold and he tackled and pinned Simba down ferociously. "Don't you dare question my abilities as a father Or insult Ni! He was the best lion I've ever known aside from our father! At least I trust my Cubs enough to not send Zazu to watch them! Even you hated Zazu as a cub, Mr. I Just Can't Wait to be King, so why force it on them?" He said getting in his face.

"I've learned to appreciate Zazu's importance since I, we became Kings. And as for trust, I don't believe Maji deserves it after today and I order you to.."

"Enough!" Kali roared." Enough. I've had it with you Simba. When we first got back I thought maybe we could make this work as co rulers but I guess it looks like I need to contribute even more or else you'll never acknowledge me. So you listen to me, we're gonna punish our Cubs for a week in the den and while they are grounded there are gonna be some changes to the way we do things around here."

"I am the King here Kali and I say..."

"Shut up Simba. You had your chance to speak and you lost it. Since you're so sure it's Maji I'm betting you hurt him so I want you stay away from him and my Cubs until I'm sure I can trust you. Hurting him is a far accusation with no prior he says he does not want him influencing his cubs, that would be more logical. But you can keep what you have too, just a personal preference. But if you don't, Mark my words, you won't win in a fight against me." Kali growled and let Simba up before stomping back to his Cubs and carried Maji in his jaws while Nurisha and Hafsa rode on his back home.

From his eyes, Kali looked up at the stars and silently said. A king is measured by what he doesn't do not by what he does. He thought looking back at his time as King. He hadn't done enough obviously or else Simba would have let him make his own decisions, but that will change. He thought. For at the end of this week, everyone will know King Kali is just as reliable as Simba.